Area of Employment Law in the U.K - Essay Example

Area of Employment Law in the U.K. In general, the U.K. employment equality law aims to fight against prejudice within the workplace. This is an important part of the UK labour law since it prohibits discrimination against people based on gender, race, religion or belief, sexuality, disability and age. As part of establishing the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the UK government passed the Equality Act 2006. The purpose of this provision is to strengthen the enforcement of equality laws. Recently, the Equality Act 2006 was consolidated to form the Equality Act 2010. Under the previous Equality Act, some important provisions which deals with discrimination by an employer on the grounds of employees’ work status as a part time worker, fixed term employee, agency worker or your union membership was not clear. Aside from the fact that it lacks consistency, the provision does not form anything like a coherent code (O'Cinneide, 2007). In fact, the provision was made up of various pieces of legislation which does not cover only pure employment and work equality issues. Rather than focusing only on work equality issues, there was a larger equality framework related to education or public authority benefits. The purpose of implementing the Equality Act 2006 was created to promote the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) which aims to outlaw or dissolve other inadequate employment legislations such as the Commission for Racial Equality, Disability Rights Commission, and the Equal Opportunities Commission. Specifically the EHRC aimed to promote the importance of work equality with gender as a basis (Office of Public Sector Information, 2006). Aside from amending the previous Disability Discrimination Act of 1995, Equality Act of 2006 also provides the public with more straight-forward provisions and imposed duties concerning work inequalities and discrimination based on religion or beliefs. Although Equality Act 2006 mentioned brief introduction concerning sexual orientation in workplace, the problem with this particular Act is that the said UK employment legislation on work equality and discrimination is limited in terms of providing a more detailed rule concerning issues related to sexual orientation. As a common knowledge, UK is bounded to comply with the EU Directive which aims to develop a legislation provision that will protect employees on the ground of gender re-assignment. Aiming to improve and unified the existing work inequality and discrimination legislation in UK, the newly implemented Equality Act 2010 provides us a more simplified and strengthened cross-cutting legislative framework that will protect employees from unfair employment treatment (Government Equalities Office, 2010). Q.3 ACAS Code of Practice on disciplinary and grievance procedures focusing on each particular role it plays in Employment Tribunal proceedings and how that role has evolved in the last few years. Grievances are referring to employment related problems and concerns regarding an employer which includes bullying and harassment, work discrimination practices, and whistle-blowing (ACAS, 2010). Since it is common for employees’ grievances to remain unresolved due to conflict issues related to authorities, ACAS has implemented a code of practice concerning disciplinary actions and filing of grievance complaints against employers who violates the existing employment equality law. In a normal work environment setting, abuse on the part of either employee or employer may take place (CIPD, 2010). Since there is a strong possibility that employers will not act upon any forms of work inequality and discrimination that takes place in a business organization, employment tribunal plays a significant role in resolving disputes as a decision-maker as to whether or not the grounds for such claim is valid (ACAS, 2009). As an individual, employee who experience work discrimination has the option to enforce their rights by taking the employer to an Employment Tribunal. Dismissals which follow discriminatory action are considered automatically unfair under s 94 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. There are certain conditions that need to be fulfilled before an employee can take his employer to an Employment Tribunal. Therefore, it is highly recommended for employees to seek advice from trade unions, ACAS, employment law solicitors and/or a local Citizens Advice Bureau before taking this type of action. The main goal of ACAS is to promote significant improvements with regards to employment relationship between employers and employees (ACAS, 2009). In line with this, the Acas Code of Practice sets out general principles for handling disciplinary and grievance situations in the workplace. Implementing a clear and transparent disciplinary and grievance procedure is necessary to ensure that each employee will be treated fairly and equally (CIPD, 2010). In fact, Acas was the first voluntary arbitration scheme that was implemented to settle unfair dismissal and flexible working disputes. Even though Acas arbitration scheme is cheaper, simpler, and less legalistic than employment tribunal, Acas alone is not attractive in terms of solving employment problems related to grievances and disciplinary procedures. For this reason, employment tribunal was given the power to increase compensation by up to 25% in case it considers the case as just and equitable to do so. If they feel that an employee failed to follow the guidelines set out in Acas code of practice, employment tribunal could reduce the aware they have made by up to 25% (CIPD, 2010; The Acas Guide, 2010). Let us consider the Laureano Rodrigo vs. IDB as an example of a tribunal case. On 18th of October 1993, Rodrigo filed an administrative tribunal case against the Inter-American Development Bank regarding his retirement pay amounting to US$150,000 since the complainant has been working as a permanent staff between the periods of August 1960 up to December 1968. As part of a counteract, the bank claims that Rodrigo resigned from his position in mid-December 1968 which made the bank remove him from the list of retirement fund to which he was entitled. After his retirement, the bank re-hired Rodrigo only as a temporary staff member. In line with this, employment tribunal officially decided to dismiss the case on the 16th of March 1994 (Judgment Case No. 37, 1994). In the past, employment tribunal has exclusive jurisdiction for cases of unfair dismissal. Since it was difficult for employment tribunal to combine fairness with informal issues aside from the fact that it was difficult for legally qualified chairmen with years of experience as advocates in the courts to operate with the degree of non-legalistic informality, new rules and procedures such as the Courts and Enforcement Act of 2007 and the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) among others were introduced to improve the goals of the Employment tribunals (Scrope & Barnett, 2008, pp. 2 – 7). Q.4 Is mediation of workplace disputes – either in parallel to or instead of grievances and tribunal claims – a good idea? Explain. Mediation of workplace disputes can be considered as a good choice since this the use of this strategy can be successful when all other methods or regulations fail. This is one reason why the UK government decided to increase the use of mediation as the best dispute resolution strategy in terms of minimizing the burden on the employment tribunal system (Gibbons, 2007). This is the main reason why mediation of workplace disputes has been integrated with the use of Acas and Chartered Institute for Personnel Development (CIPD). Therefore, mediation of workplace disputes is one of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) strategies that Acas evaluated after recommendations were published by the Employment Tribunal back in 2003. Even though statutory interventions stated in Acas is still the main factor behind the decision for justice in UK, the government decided to develop a separate agency known as the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in order to improve the effectiveness and purpose of mediation. Because of the continuous government’s effort to strengthen the mediation of workplace disputes in terms of improving social justice given to the victims and accused individuals, the restorative justice and mediation is considered effective in solving employment problems that are emotionally complex (Roche, 2003). Part II i. Describe aim of negotiation. A good negotiation is not only focused on trying to win more than the party being negotiated with but to enter into a business agreement wherein both the negotiator and the person being negotiated with feels satisfied with the agreement. (Reck & Long, p. 13) Given that the negotiator and the person being dealt with are both satisfied with the common grounds they have agreed with, there is a strong possibility for both parties to be able to establish a stronger and long-term business relationship as compared with a situation where in the negotiation was done on a one-sided basis. ii. What was your side objective in negotiation? For several years, I work in a local bank as a teller. As part of a teller’s main tasks, it is my job responsibility to provide the clients with competitive quality customer service at all times. One way to ensure that clients are given good quality customer service is to ensure that each client receives an efficient and accurate banking transaction processes. Aside from giving them quality service, part of our job is to sell the bank’s newly offered products and services to our customers each day. In many cases, I have come across dealing with clients who are planning to open new personal accounts. The most common queries I have received from clients is where to put their money to earn the biggest interest rate for their savings. Normally, I would discuss with them several bank products such as a normal savings account which they can easily open with a minimum deposit of £XXX which comes with a passbook and an atm card aside from the time deposit option of 30, 60, and 90 days which gives more interest rate than a normal personal bank account. Upon presenting the bank products they can choose from, I would intentionally inform them the advantages and disadvantages of each bank products to assist each client over the type of new accounts they would open with the bank. For instance: Given that a client decided to open a time deposit account but isn’t sure of whether to choose 30, 60, or 90 days, I would personally compute for the possible interest payment for 30, 60, or 90 days time deposits base on the current interest bank rates. By showing them the figures, it would be so much easier to come up with a win-win negotiation which could satisfy their personal needs and wants. iii. What were your opponent’s objectives? As a client of the bank, my opponent’s objective was to get the best investment for their money. iv. What did you achieve from the negotiations? Were you happy with the outcome? Yes, I was happy with the outcome. Since the new client was satisfied with the services I have provided, the client decided to open a new account with the bank. This increases the chance that the client would end up becoming one of the bank’s loyal customers. Not only was I able to fulfil my duty of maintaining a positive customer relationship with the bank clients but also satisfied the preferences of each bank customer. v. Were your opponents happy from their perspective? Yes. The client was happy from his perspective since the client has been coming back to the bank every now and then. vi. What was the time frame of negotiation? How late into the negotiation did you reach agreement on the salient points? Were there any particular issues which remained unresolved until the time period? Negotiation with the client took place in less than 30 minutes. Since I was able to answer all his queries clearly, there were no issues left unresolved. vii. What did you learn from the negotiation? Would you have done anything differently with hindsight? Upon analyzing the positive outcomes of dealing with bank client, it was my personal knowledge on ‘win-win negotiation’ that enabled me to perform my duty well as a bank teller. The negotiation strategy I use with bank clients is effective. Therefore, I will not do anything differently unless the situation calls for it. In case I do not have sufficient knowledge with the importance of negotiating skill, it would be difficult on my part to convince prospective bank clients to open new accounts with the bank. Part III i. List your client’s objectives. Ms. Blair’s objective is to make use of Mrs. Straw’s garage to park some of her vans for the sum of £10,000 per annum. ii. List the likely objectives of your opponent. Mrs. Straw is contesting that the agreement made with Ms. Blair is to use the garage only for overnight storage of the three vans. iii. Is there any info which you require to evaluate the chances of meeting these objectives? None. iv. What are the strengths of your client’s case? First, the conversation between Ms. Blair and Mrs. Straw did not mention anything about any restrictions with the use of the garage except that it was clearly written in the contract that “Jackie Straw will allow Toni Motors Ltd to use the garage at 1 The Close, Chelsea, London for one year from today’s date for a consideration of £10,000”. Since both parties agreed with what is written in the contract, Mrs. Straw should legally comply with the written agreement. This increases the strength of my client’s case. v. What are the weaknesses of your client’s case? Mrs. Straw complaints the following issues: 1. She does not want the transit vans to be moved in and out of the garage during day time; 2. She does not want the customers of Toni Motors Ltd to be shown vans in the garage; 3. She does not want the vans to be cleaned or worked on outside the garage. However, the written contract between Ms. Blair and Mrs. Straw did not state any restriction on how Toni Motors Ltd will use the garage for a span of one year. Therefore, Mrs. Straw does not have any concrete evidence to prove in the court that there was an agreement between Ms. Blair and Mrs. Straw concerning any limitations with regards to the use of the garage. vi. What potential concessions might your client be willing to make? My client is willing to accept some restrictions but as little as possible. Basically, the fewer restrictions are imposed, the more willing my client is going to pay for the use of the claimant’s garage. My client is also willing to extend the fixed agreement for at most two years. vii. What strategy and tactics might you adopt during the negotiation? During the negotiation with Mrs. Straw, I need to emphasize that the written contract between my client and Mrs. Straw is limited in terms of stating that “Jackie Straw will allow Toni Motors Ltd to use the garage at 1 The Close, Chelsea, London for one year from today’s date for a consideration of £10,000”. Since both parties agreed with what is written in the contract, chances that the court would hear her concern would be very weak. Since my client is suspecting that Mrs. Straw only wants additional income out of the use of her garage, I could negotiate the use of her garage by extending the number of years in contract given that Mrs. Straw’s argument is weak. References "ACAS." 2010. Grievances. 15 June 2010 . "ACAS." 6 April 2009. Guidance note: Conciliation in cases that could be the subject of employment tribunal proceedings after 6 April 2009. 15 June 2010 . "CIPD." April 2010. Discipline and grievances at work. 15 June 2010 . Gibbons, M. Better Dispute Resolution: A Review of Employment Dispute Resolutin in Great Britain. London: Department of Trade and Industry, 2007. "Government Equalities Office." 2010. Equality Act 2010. 15 June 2010 . "Judgment Case No. 37." 1994. Laureano Rodrigo vs. IDB. 15 June 2010 . O'Cinneide, C. "The Commission for Equality and Human Rights: A New Institution for New and Uncertain Times." Industrial Law Journal (2007): Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 141-162; doi:10.1093/indlaw/dwm001 . "Office of Public Sector Information." 16 February 2006. Equality Act 2006. Chapter 3. 15 June 2006 . Reck, Ross R. and Brian G. Long. The Win-Win Negotiator: How to Negotiate Favorable Agreements that Last. New York: Pocket Books, 1989. Roche, D. "Gluttons for restorative justice." Economy and Society (2003): Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 630-644. Scrope, H. and D. Barnett. Employment Law Handbook. 4th Edition. The Law Society, 2008. "The Acas Guide." 2010. Discipline and Grievance at Work. 8 June 2010 . Total Number of Words: 2,307 Read More